Published 4:00 am, Saturday, July 29, 2000

2000-07-29 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- An environmental group asked San Francisco officials yesterday to block managers of the city's Harding Park and Fleming golf courses from spraying herbicide to kill 160 acres of grass, saying the poison would destroy other plants and leech into nearby Lake Merced.

The Golden Gate Audubon Society asked the Planning Department to overturn its recent decision allowing Arnold Palmer Golf Management to kill the grass with glyphosate, an herbicide sold in stores under the trade name Roundup.

"The proposed use of an amount of Roundup required to kill grasses and other plants on 160 acres of tees, fairways, greens and roughs would necessarily be large," said Daniel Murphy of the Audubon Society. And it "would carry the potential to impact other nearby vegetation, to contaminate groundwater (and) to impact the food chain of all fauna."

The Palmer company is using Roundup to eliminate weeds along the course as well as the grass, which it plans to replace with perennial ryegrass, colonial bent grass, Kentucky bluegrass and several other grass varieties.

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Palmer officials say the herbicide is safe. But environmentalists and several neighbors fear that a large use of the chemical would contaminate Lake Merced.

Earlier this month, the Planning Department issued a report that essentially approved the use of Roundup as part of the Palmer company's plans to transform Harding Park into a world-class golf course. The company is trying to attract a PGA tournament to the course in 2002.

The Planning Department also tentatively ruled that no environmental impact review was needed as long as Palmer officials agreed to take steps to mitigate any dangers from the use of the herbicide.

Planning Department staff me½d8$Íî®;]Ythat the company would have to "erect silt fences and fiber rolls between the perimeter of the site and Lake Merced at all locations where the golf courses slope toward the lake."

But the Audubon Society, Friends of Lake Merced and several other environmental groups are not satisfied.

Greg Small, executive director of Pesticide Watch, said the Palmer company's proposed application of Roundup seems to go against a 1996 city law that limits the herbicide's use to spot applications.

For the most part, the city has done a "great job of reducing the use of pesticides," Small said. "But this would be a giant step backwards."

The Palmer company, which also manages the Presidio Golf Course, was chosen by the Recreation and Park Commission in January to manage, operate and restore Harding Park. Construction is set to begin this fall. The company is still seeking city approval to rebuild the entire course, including the clubhouses, the irrigation system, the parking lots and the driving range.